Hand Hygiene: Infection Prevention

• Hand hygiene is cleaning one's hands to reduce potential pathogens.
• Hand hygiene is a primary measure to reduce the risk of transmitting infection among patients and health care personnel.
• Alcohol-based hand antiseptic or soap and water are essential for patient care and infection prevention, and is fundamental to patient safety.
• Alcohol-based hand rubs are better than hand washing with soap and water, they:
  • Require less time.
  • Act quickly to kill microorganisms.
  • Are more effective
• Medical hand washing involves washing hands with antimicrobial or nonantimicrobial soap and water vigorously for at least 15 to 20 seconds to create friction.
• It requires a specific skill set to ensure proper technique.
• Medical hand washing is considered a primary measure for reducing the risk of transmitting infection among patients and health care personnel.

5 Moments of hand hygiene

• Before touching a patient.
• Before clean/aseptic procedure.
• After body fluid exposure risk.
• After touching a patient.
• After touching patient surroundings.
• All needed equipment must be prepared, such as a sink with running water, soap and paper towel or clean towel.
• Solid soap may hold bacteria from previous uses.
• Liquid soap with hands-free controls for dispensing is preferable.
• It's important to explain what you are doing and why it is necessary to the client.

Faucet controls

• There are 5 common types of faucet controls:
  • Hand – operated handles
  • Knee levers: Move levers with the knee to regulate flow and temperature
  • Foot pedals: Press these with the foot to regulate flow and temperature
  • Elbow controls: Move these with the elbows instead of the hands
  • Infrared control: Motion in front of the sensor causes water to start and stop flow of water automatically.
• Keep hands lower than the elbows when washing, so the water flows from the arms to the fingertips.
• Apply soap thoroughly on all areas of hands, rinse briefly under running water, and then return soap to the soap dish.
• If using liquid soap, apply 2 – 4 mL (1 tsp).
• If using bar, granules, or sheets, rub them firmly between the hands to make a good lather.
• Follow the hand washing steps with the following instructions:
  • Rub palms together.
  • Rub the back of both hands.
  • Interlace fingers and rub hands together.
  • Interlock fingers and rub the back of fingers of both hands.
  • Rub thumb in a rotating manner followed by the area between index finger and thumb for both hands.
  • Rub fingertips on palm for both hands.
  • Rub both wrists in a rotating manner, then rinse and dry thoroughly.
• Rub hands together five times as follows or for a total of 60 seconds.
• Rinse the hands thoroughly under the running warm water, keeping hands apart from each other.
• Pat dry the hands and arms thoroughly with a paper towel or clean cloth, wiping from the fingertips down to the wrist.
• Discard the soiled paper towel in the appropriate container, changing paper towel as necessary.
• Use a new paper towel to grasp a hand – operated control.